The present invention relates to document routing mechanism and in particular, to a document routing mechanism associated with a storage device for currency notes in an automated teller machine (ATM).
Currency notes are generally stored in one or more currency cassettes within the cash dispenser module of an ATM. During a cash withdrawal transaction, the requisite notes must be picked from the appropriate cassette or cassettes by a vacuum or friction picking mechanism and fed along a main transport path to a stacking mechanism, prior to being delivered to a customer through a slot in the front panel of the ATM. In order to increase the speed and efficiency at which currency notes are dispensed to a customer, currency notes may be picked from one or more of the currency cassettes prior to receipt of a customer cash withdrawal request and are transported to one or more auxiliary storage devices (escrows) for temporary storage. The auxiliary storage devices are located along the transport path closer to the stacking mechanism than the currency cassettes and are arranged to dispense currency notes at a faster rate than dispensing from the main currency cassettes. In subsequent cash withdrawal transactions, if at least some of the notes required for the transaction are available in the auxiliary storage devices, these notes are dispensed therefrom in preference to, or in addition to the notes from the currency cassettes.
In order to achieve appropriate routing of the currency notes from the main feed path towards the auxiliary storage device when currency notes are delivered thereto and from the auxiliary storage device to the main feed path when currency notes are dispensed therefrom, a reliable document routing mechanism is required. Since currency notes are commonly picked from a currency cassette at a rate of up to ten notes per second, the document routing mechanism must be suitably responsive so as to provide for the appropriate routing of bank notes traveling at such a speed.
A document routing mechanism for an ATM currency note storage device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,125. The routing mechanism comprises a pair of curved baffles and a gating mechanism having a core member which can be moved between a first position to define a transport path into the escrow and a second position to define a transport path out of the escrow. The core member is moved by means of an electromagnet and a lever linkage which is connected to the core member. However, this known mechanism is complex and bulky and has a limited operating speed.